The evolution of Pleistocene climate: A time series approach

In the later part of the Pleistocene, variations in global ice volume have been dominated by an approximate 100,000-year cycle. Analysis of 2-Myr-long oxygen isotope record from an equatorial Pacific core indicates that this is true only for the last 900,000 years. Prior to this time the amplitude of the 100,000-year cycle is much reduced, as is the variance of all oscillations with periods greater than 60,000 years. Based on results of time series analysis of this 2-Myr-long record, the Pleistocene glacial cycles can be divided into three sections: (1) the late Pleistocene (0–900 kyr B.P.) where the variations in the isotope record are dominated by the 100,000-year cycle; (2) the middle Pleistocene (900–1450 kyr B.P.) in which low-frequency components are not as important as in the later period of the Pleistocene, and (3) the early Pleistocene/late Pliocene (1450–2000 kyr B.P.) where general reductions of importance at all frequencies is seen as compared to the later intervals. Recent modeling efforts which describe variations in global ice volume show that the dominant low-frequency component observed in the late Pleistocene can result from different time constants for the rate of glacial growth and decay in response to variations in the Earth's orbital parameters. It is hypothesized that during the early Pleistocene the rate of growth and decay of glaciers were more similar and that continental erosion by successive glacial advances lowered the land surface in areas of ice-cap formation to below sea level. When the ice caps became marine-based, more rapid decay of the ice became possible.